Heart of Georgia
by prettyyy-in-camo
Summary: High school sweethearts, David and Sam are in their first year of college in Georgia. They were prepared for late-night coffee runs, rowdy frat parties, all-nighters, annoying roommates, and 8 am classes; but nothing in the world could have prepared them for this. OC and Daryl for now, keep reading for more favorites to come in :) R&R please and thank you :)
1. Chapter 1

"Are you sure no one's out here?" A nervous look flashed onto his face in the dim lighting of the moon.

"It's fine," I smiled. "Quit bein' a baby."

"I ain't bein' a baby." He argued, taking his hand out of mine and suddenly becoming defensive. "But I'm pretty sure this is private property, and I can't be violatin' my parole again. What are we doin' out here anyway?"

"I wanna show you somethin'." I winked at him. "Come on." I gestured for him to take my hand again. Hesitant, he took it and laced his fingers through mine. "David Terry, you've gotta learn to trust me." I smiled and went up on the balls of my feet until my lips found his.

He shrugged when we had pulled away from each other. "I trust you, most of the time."

"Trust me more." I smiled up at him. "Now come on, we're runnin' out of moonlight."

"Are we at the tracks?" He asked as we walked a little further through the trees.

"Almost." I smiled.

"What would you wanna go to the tracks for?" I felt his grip loosen up around my hand again, like we wanted to let go of me and turn back. I held him tighter and urged him to go on. He had finally stopped questioning me when we made it to the tracks and found an empty freight car. I think his curiosity had finally sparked, and he had decided to just go with it. I climbed up the ladder steps and gestured for him to follow me inside the dark car. "Samantha?" He questioned when I disappeared inside. "Sam?" He called again when I hadn't answered.

"Would you hurry up?" I laughed. "Get your ass in here."

"What are we doin'?" He asked as he came inside. I smiled as I lit the lantern that had been there before and held it up so he could see the inside of the car. I watched his eyes scan over the graffiti marks and song lyrics people had written all over the walls of the small enclosure. Then his eyes went to the corner where the lantern had been, along with a blanket. "People stay out here?"

"Some girls from school told me about this place, I didn't know if they were tellin' the truth or not."

"What did they tell you 'bout it?" He asked, now I knew his curiosity had been breached.

"That people come out here for parties, drinkin', or sometimes kids will just come out here to do it." I gave him a mischievous smile as I walked towards him and took his Georgia Bulldogs hat off his head and pulled it down over my eyes. He smiled as we reached for each other and our lips met again. The kisses came more frequently, and they got sloppier as he picked me up and walked me over to where the blanket was laid out on the ground. He laid me down and put the weight of his body on top of me, taking off his shirt. My hands traced over the contours of his skin, feeling its smoothness and the warmth it was radiating. He went for my shirt and I grabbed his hat off my head, putting it on the ground next to the pile of clothes that continued to grow until we didn't have any other pieces to contribute. We stayed there for what seemed like forever. Afterwards, he smiled and kissed my forehead.

"You dragged me all the way out here just to have sex with me?" He chuckled. "We could have done that back at the dorm, or in the car."

"You didn't enjoy it?" I raised an eyebrow towards him as we tried to sort our clothes from what was mine and what was his.

"I didn't say that." He smiled.

"Alright then." I shrugged and got up to put my pants back on. "Here." I smiled at him as I handed him his hat back.

"Keep it." He smiled as I gave him a questioning look. "It looks better on you anyway." I fought back a smile as I slapped the hat on my head, tucking the hair behind my ears. He walked up to me, taking me in his arms and kissing my forehead again. "I love you." He said quietly.

I looked up at him quickly, almost in shock, but I smiled. "I love you too." He chuckled and we held each other by the waist as we walked down the steps together and across the tracks.

"You know, we've never done it in the woods." He raised an eyebrow in my direction and shot me a smirk.

"Oh really?" I smiled as he cupped my chin with his hand and brought my lips up to meet his. His hands found the button of my jeans and he slipped one of his hands inside. "David?" I asked.

"Huh?" He mumbled against the skin on my neck.

"Did you hear somethin'?"

"You mean other than you?" He chuckled.

"I'm serious." I pushed him in his chest lightly. His lips left my neck and he looked at me, a look of desire coming to his eyes.

"It's fine. Now quit distracting me." I felt his fingers trace over the lace of my panties when I heard the noise again. The constant moving of his hands were making it hard for me not to be distracted from the noise I kept hearing in the distance. His hand dove inside the lace, and he made it almost impossible to remember I had heard anything at all. But then the noise was closer, and I knew he heard it too.

"David?" I asked quietly.

"I hear it." He nodded. He took his hands away from me and I fixed the button on my jeans quickly, looking in the direction of the noise. As it got closer, it got louder, clearer. It almost sounded like a muffled choking sound. As if someone was drowning, breathing, and swallowing fire at the same time. It was an eerie sound that resembled something like postmortem.

Then there was a rustling in the trees to our left. A branch snapped as whatever it was stepped on it and got closer to us.

"What the hell?" David's mouth opened as the thing emerged from the trees and came at us.

I let out a scream when a human-like figure came at us with its hands going for our throat. In the darkness of the woods, I couldn't tell what it looked like, all I knew is there was no way it was human. I felt my wrist being grabbed by the thing and I pulled away as hard as I could to get away from it. There was a thud on the ground, when I looked back at the thing's silhouette, the arm that was used to grab me was now gone. I had ripped its arm off.

"Sam!" David yelled as it lunged at me again with its arm it had left. I heard the chomping of teeth, like it was already preparing itself to peel my skin off the bone with its teeth. "Run!" I couldn't think, I couldn't move, I could barely even hear David as he begged me to make a run for it. The next thing I knew I was pushed to the ground by David and he had taken my place trying to fend off the creature. I heard an eerie sound, like someone peeling off a band-aid, except I knew it was David's flesh. He screamed as his blood poured to the ground below him. The creature ate at the skin vigorously, making its way with its teeth down the the muscle and bone.

"David!" I cried. He was still screaming from the pain when he managed to get a final word out before going unconscious: love.

I had a quick decision to make. I knew David was a goner. I had to try to think as rationally as possible to save my own life now. Remembering back to right before the thing had got him, what did he say? I stumbled to my feet as the creature ate over my dead boyfriend's body. What had he said? I beckoned for my feet to move, but they wouldn't. It felt as if someone had placed weights on them to keep me there, unable to move out of my own personal hell. Hell. What the hell did David tell me to do?

_Run. _

That's it. My feet could move again. I took off running through the trees as fast as I could. All I remember is darkness with a dim light from the moon, a sliver of hope. Then all I saw was black.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

When I woke up, there were bright lights above me. I forced my eyes to open completely so I could see where I was at. I wasn't in the woods anymore, I was in a bed. From the looks of it, it was a hospital bed. _Great._

"Sweetie?" There was a nurse standing over me, she had one hand on my arm and the other held tightly to a clipboard. "Do you know where you are?"

Her words were barely audible, but I forced myself to shake my head.

"You're at Atlanta Medical Center." Her words, although quiet and meant to be soothing, pierced my ears like nails on chalkboard. "They found you in the woods, you were unconscious and dehydrated." Her hand moved from my arm to my forehead, most likely making sure I didn't have a temperature. "You're gonna be just fine." She smiled.

My mouth opened and I struggled to find words. I had so many questions. _Who found me? Why am I here? What was that thing? Where's David? Oh God. David. _Before I could get any words to come out of my mouth, I began choking on tears.

"Shh." She sat down on the bed next to me. "It's alright. You're safe now."

"David." My vocal chords were rusty and quiet, but they finally began to work.

"What?"

"David." My eyes widened and I sat up. "Did you find David?"

"Sweetie, you were all alone when they found you."

"No, David. That _thing_ got him." I cried, finally finding my voice and sending myself into a panic. "It got him and it tore off his skin, it _ate_ him!"

She stood up off the bed, laying the clipboard down and putting both of her hands on my shoulders. "Doctor?" She called. "Doctor!" She called again as a middle-aged man ran into the room.

"What's wrong?"

"You have to help him!" I screamed. "It got him!"

"If she doesn't calm down she's going to end up hurtin' herself." The doctor explained to the nurse. "Hold her down."

"No!" I screamed. "Why are you worryin' about me? I'm fine! You have to help David!"

"Nurse." The doctor gave her a knowing look as two or three more nurses filed into the room. "We need to strap her down, she's already pulled the IV out. She's going to hurt herself." Suddenly I felt someone on top of me, holding me down. Then I felt straps, like big belts, going over me holding me in place. I didn't realize how much I had been moving around until I was forced to stop. I could still feel myself shaking though. And for some reason I kept fighting the belts. I didn't really want to, but I kept resisting. "Give her some minor tranquilizers. She needs to calm down, her blood pressure is through the roof right now."

I felt a needle go into me and within seconds I had stopped shaking entirely. _These people must think I'm crazy. _I thought.

The doctor sighed and scratched his balding head. "Give her some time, then see if you can get any information from her. She didn't have any ID on her when they found her."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"How's she doing?" The doctor came back into the room a few minutes later.

"She's relaxed." The nurse said. "She hasn't said anything though, I can't even get a name from her."

He sighed and came to stand next to me, peering down at me indecisively. He gave me a soft smile when he caught me staring. "I'm Doctor Hastings, do you have a name?" _Stupid question. _I've found that people often ask stupid, meaningless questions when they already know the answer to them. If I had been crying he probably would have asked me: _Are you okay? _Which of course, he would know I was obviously not okay, otherwise I wouldn't be crying. And now, here he stands next to me, asking me if I "have a name". _Is he expecting there could be a chance that I would say no? _I thought. Again, stupid questions, it's what humans thrive on for the simple reason of small-talk.

I looked away from him and focused on the wallpaper on the wall in front of me. I wasn't being stubborn, honest. It was just that every time I went to speak, I would hear the sounds again. I would get these flashes in my head as if they were being played in front of me on a movie screen with the eerie inevitable setting being my pathetic existence more commonly known as life. Why did he want to know my name anyway? It's not like it would make a difference, it's not like three little letters could bring David back to me. I quickly realized that by my lack of speech they would most likely think I was either crazy or in shock, which would ultimately mean more meds. Conforming to societal norms, I looked him directly in the eye and opened my mouth. Again, no words would come out. I dug deep and pushed the flashes aside so that I could say my name.

"Samantha." It was a whisper, but at least the word came out that time.

He smiled and nodded. "Well, Samantha." He quickly scribbled on the clipboard he had been holding. "What's your last name?" Here we go again.

_More words. _

"Hatcher." The words were beginning to come easier now. "Sam Hatcher." The words stung my lips, and they felt like a lie. Like what had happened made me a different person, suddenly I wasn't Sam Hatcher anymore. I was this vile person with a dirty secret that no one would believe even if I did tell them.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The brightness of the morning sun stung my eyes and the clean air intoxicated my lungs. After being in the hospital for two days, any air that didn't smell of latex and mashed potatoes was good air. I pulled my Georgia Bulldogs hat down to shield some of my face from the light when I heard someone call my name.

"Sam!" A familiar voice called from the parking lot. "Oh my God!" My roommate ran towards me with her arms outstretched. She pulled me in for a hug when she had gotten close enough to me. "Are you okay? I heard that they found you in the woods? What the hell were you doin' in the woods?" Her voice went up higher at the end of her question as her Georgia twang got thicker with her anxious stare.

"I was takin' pictures for my photography class." I shrugged. "I got a project due next week and I didn't have anythin' to work with." That was a lie. I had turned in that project nearly two weeks ago. But with my latest tract record of telling people about the thing that attacked David, I had learned it was better to lie about it. For my own sake. I couldn't afford to go to the looney bin without probable cause. I knew what I saw, and my story sounded crazy even to me.

"Are you okay?" More stupid questions. Her eyes widened and she placed a careful hand on my shoulder. "I heard about David."

"What'd you 'ear?" I asked incredulously.

"That he's missin'." She looked away for a moment. "Everyone on our floor thinks you did it, you know. I never understood why they always blame the significant other first."

"Did what?" I scrunched my eyebrows together. Her eyes darted nervously from me to the ground and back again.

"Well, they think he's dead." Her eyes darted again. "And that you had somethin' to do with it." I looked past her to the line of cars that were waiting to leave the lot. "Sam?" She gave me a worried look as I started walking away from her. I ignored her as I kept walking, there was a gun store not far from there.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The tiny bell that had been hanging on the storefront door jingled as I walked through the entrance and into the quaint shop. There was a husky man standing behind the counter. "Excuse me." I said.

He shushed me by waving a hand in my direction, paying me little attention as his eyes stayed fixed on the television he had mounted on the wall. It was a news broadcast. The mousy girl on camera clung to her microphone nervously as she told the story with worried eyes and a shaky voice.

"Atlanta police have discovered victims who have been pronounced dead from what appears to be an animal attack that took place within our city limits. Victims were found with multiple bite marks to their neck, chest, and arm areas." The shop owner looked away momentarily so that our eyes locked and he gave me a knowing look. "One victim has been rushed to the hospital where they will undergo emergency surgery, while the other two victims were pronounced D.O.A."

There was stirring in the background of the broadcast. A woman screamed while others uttered shock-filled words under their breath. "It's alive!" Someone yelled. It was a partial question, and a partial plea.

"Turn that camera off!" Someone else shouted angrily. "We don't need a public panic!" Then there were gunshots. Lots of them. The camera kept rolling.

Then I saw it. It was the same bastard that had killed David. At least it looked the same. A lump caught in my throat as I saw it, one of those creatures for the first time in actual lighting. I had to remember how to breathe when I saw just _how _human-like it actually looked.

The shop owner covered his mouth with a shaking hand. "Holy shit." Our eyes met again before we both looked back to the television. The thing walked towards the cops, taking bullet after bullet to the chest and grabbing for any human flesh they could get their hands, and mouths, on. The second victim got up off the ground casually, the same way the first one had. Like they were still human and they had a right to be walking the streets of Atlanta. But they weren't human.

I jumped this time when I heard the bell ring on the shop door. My eyes darted to the front of the shop . A man walked in with his head held high, scoping out the place. Whether it was confidence or arrogance I wasn't sure.

The shop owner and I both watched as the man ran his fingers through his greasy hair and gave a disapproving chuckle, shaking his head.

"You've gotta be kiddin' me." The man smirked towards us. "The damn apocalypse is happenin' outside and y'all are sittin' 'round watchin' the news?" He turned back towards the door and grabbed the open sign that was hanging on the handle, flipping it over to 'closed' and locking the door. "Lock the damn door would ya? You want people beatin' down the place?"

"This could be good for business, ya know?" The man behind the counter said. His voice was still shaky, but he forced a smile anyway.

"You're money don't mean shit no more." He walked towards us, looking me up and down before giving me a smile. "What, you don' talk?" He flicked the bill of my hat, making me take a step back. "I would'a thought a college girl would know some proper English."

"What do you want Daryl?" The shop owner had finally composed himself enough so that he could speak without having a waver in his words.

"Guns." Daryl said seriously. With him having an identity I didn't feel so intimidated by him anymore. "Give me ever'thing you've got."

"You know you've gotta wait the ten days for your background check." The shop owner nodded towards Daryl who looked at me as if to see if I was buying how ridiculous the guy sounded. I shrugged in response.

"Look man." Daryl took another step towards the guy, who took a half-step back. "In ten days your shop will already be closed down, all these here Glocks and whatever other girly shit you've got in th' back will be gone. People will panic and break into two places." He held up two bony fingers for emphasis. "The bank, which won't do anybody no good when they're dead. And the gun shop, so that they have a chance of not gettin' dead."

"What are you sayin'?" The owner asked, eying us both and probably wondering if we were together and had planned this whole thing.

"I'm sayin' that you're gonna give me whatever guns and ammo I want." Daryl painted a sly, devilish grin on his face. "Or I'll kill ya." He reached for the belt of his pants, letting his hand linger there and leaving everyone else in the room curious but nervous. Neither of us dared to look, for the chance that he could have a gun waiting there for him.

"You don't have the balls Daryl Dixon." The owner gave him a smug grin. "With your criminal history, killin' me would lock you up for life."

"You think the cops are gon' be worried 'bout me when they've got god-damned dead people walkin' 'round their streets?" He chuckled. "Sorry old friend." In an instant Daryl lunged across the counter and knocked the owner out with one punch. He fell to the ground with a thud. I looked back to Daryl with fear and curiosity in my eyes. When our eyes met he had a grin that stretched from one ear to the other. Like knocking that guy out had given him pleasure. An adrenaline rush that he couldn't refuse. "What d'ya say blondie? Wanna go shoppin'?"


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

I glanced over at him momentarily as I crouched behind the counter, looking through all of the different kinds of guns that I had never even held before, much less knew how to use. "Hand me that Kimber, would ya?" He reached a hand towards me, waiting for me to meet him halfway. I looked back to the case, not sure which one he was talking about. "That one." He pointed.

"I know." I said stubbornly as I grabbed the one he had been pointing to and put it in his hand carefully.

"Right." He chuckled. Our skin brushed against each other for a brief second. I looked away quickly and decided to go look at the ammo section instead. He grabbed a duffle bag off the shelf behind him and started looting the guns as fast as he could, like he was on the clock. But I guess we all were on our own clocks now. The thought of the apocalypse should scare me, I suppose. But after watching the one you love die in front of you, you gain a protective shell around you. A casing that forces things like the possibility of your own death to bounce off of you.

Not knowing what the hell I was doing, I began grabbing random boxes of ammo and stacking them on the counter in front of me.

"What the 'ell are you doin'?" He came up behind me, looking over my stacks with a disapproving stare. His dark eyes met mine and that was all I saw, darkness. His eyes had no depth, no warmth.

"Gettin' ammo." I raised my voice. There was no way this stranger was going to intimidate me, even though he was holding a bag full of weapons. "These things _do_ require it, right?" I raised an eyebrow in his direction.

"Smart ass." He shook his head. "You're gettin' all the wrong ones." He grabbed one of the stacks and started looking through them. He took two boxes from what I had and put them in the bag. "These things are useless if you ain't got the right ammo." He shook his head and walked away from me, back to the gun case. "Dumb bitch." He mumbled under his breath.

"Excuse me?" I took a defensive step towards him and put a hand on my hip. For most guys, this would signal an apology. But this guy was different.

"Oh, I'm sorry Princess. Did you 'ear me?"

"You don't even know my name. Don't act like you know me." I scrunched my eyebrows together.

He stood up straight and took a step towards me. "Let me guess." He dropped the bag on the ground next to him and took slow steps towards me as he spoke. "You're a college girl, probably a freshman with a drinkin' problem. But Mommy and Daddy don't know that. In fact they're probably payin' your way through Georgia State so you can ditch all your classes and sleep around with every guy on campus that's just a little below your 'standards'. You prob'ly have a boyfriend, he prob'ly even played football in high school. He has no idea that your legs are open more than your mouth. He didn't think it was possible." He smirked as he stood right in front of me. I was fighting back tears now, and he knew it. "You told him you loved him, he dumped you for some bitch who puts out more than you. But you were gonna dump 'em anyway 'cause he was never good enough for Mommy and Daddy. He was just 'round to keep you busy and get you into some frat parties. You prob'ly don't have too many friends either. My guess is that your roommate don't like you too much, but you force her to be your friend anyway. Cause' that's all you've got. You act like you're tough shit, when really you've probably never even held a gun before, or had to do your own laundry. You're just some rich bastard's daughter who's whorin' her way through college just like she did in high school." He smiled a toothy grin. "And your name is somethin' like Destiny or Chloe. How much of that did I get wrong?"

I clenched my jaw, fighting back the tears that were welling in the corners of my eyes.

"Go to hell." I snapped at him.

"I'm already there Princess." He winked at me. "'scuse me." He smiled and brushed past me to grab something off the wall that looked like a torture device."

"What's that?" I asked.

He sighed and turned back to me. "'s a crossbow." He walked back over to me and grabbed the bag that was laying at my feet. "Here." He reached into the bag and pulled out a small black gun and handed it to me. Then he handed me a box of ammo from under the counter. "You're gettin' on my damn nerves Blondie."

I held the gun out in front of me, looking at it and turning it over in my hands. "How do I use it?" I asked.

He sighed heavily and grabbed some other things from below the counter. "Here. These are mags. You put the rounds in 'ere, put them in the gun, and fire."

"But I've never shot a gun." I said nervously.

"I guess you better learn then." He smiled and hopped over the counter, walking towards the back door of the store. "One more thang." He turned back to me. "What the 'ell are you doin' in a gun store?"

"I wanted to buy a gun."

"Why?" He chuckled.

"So I could kill the son o' a bitch that killed my boyfriend." I said seriously. There was a moment of silence as my words hung like smoke in the air. He looked over me again before turning towards the door.

"Aim for th' head." He mumbled.

I nodded and watched as Daryl Dixon walked out the door with no desire in ever looking back.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

My feet dragged as I forced myself to walk through the trees. It took me a while, but I finally found the place I was looking for. The forest floor was stained a cruel brownish-reddish color in the place that David took his last breath. Daryl was wrong about me. David never dumped me. But he was right when he said that David hadn't known about the other guys. And when I told him that I loved him, I meant it.

I never really understood the whole cheating thing. That is, until I was the cheater. I used to think that cheaters were weak, senseless cowards. Maybe that's exactly what I was. But was it wrong of me to want something exciting, some kind of adventure? With David it was always the same. Not that it was necessarily a bad thing. David was familiar, he felt like home. I knew every curve on his body, every freckle and bump on his skin like the back of my hand. His smile intoxicated me and his aroma engulfed my very being. When I was with him, it was like we were the only two people left on earth. Every time he kissed me it was like time stopped and I would do anything to feel his presence close to me. I wiped away the tears from my face when I realized that they had been running down my face for quite some time as I stood there alone in the silence of my own misery.

There was no way Daryl was right about me. He had it all wrong. So he had gotten some things about me right, so what? He didn't know me and he definitely didn't know anything about David and I.

My fingers traced over one of the leaves of a nearby plant, but when I turned my hand over there was nothing. The blood had already dried. That fact hit me harder than I thought it would. I knew it had been several days since the incident. I knew the blood would be dry by now. I guess if it had been fresh it would have been a sign that some of him was still here somehow. But it wasn't fresh. It had become part of the plant, part of the forest floor. And unfortunately, he wasn't a part of me anymore. There was a rustling in the trees and I flinched automatically and grabbed for the gun that was in the waist of my pants. I had finally figured out how to use the damned thing about an hour earlier. I wasn't sure if I could actually hit what I was aiming for as I didn't want to use more ammo than necessary for target practice. But I was hoping I could figure it out before the part where I died.

I raised the gun in the direction of the rustling, and restrained myself from pulling the trigger when a man emerged from the trees. He was middle-aged and about as rugged as they come. His face was dirty, hair greasy and matted to his head. He had a scar on his cheek that almost stretched to his ear when he shot a smile my way.

"Well shit." He laughed. His voice was raspy and matched his appearance. "I was expectin' one of those dead ass holes. Instead I got a perdy piece o' ass." I narrowed my eyes, making sure he wasn't going to try anything and keeping my gun pointed towards him. He lowered his in return and put it back in his belt loop, raising his hands in a surrendering gesture. "Easy baby girl." He chuckled. "I'm on your side."

"What are you doin' out here?" I asked. My gun was still pointed at his face.

"These are my woods darlin'." He laughed. "Just tryin' to rustle up some dinner. Is that a crime?"

"No." I said. I was still hesitant about this guy. He gave off a different aura than anyone I had ever met before. Maybe because he wasn't apart of my "princess" life style. _What was I doing? Why had I let that Daryl guy get in my head so easily? Why should I give a damn what he thinks about me?_ I shook the thoughts from my head and focused at the task at hand.

"You ever taste squir'l 'fore?" He asked. He took another step towards me.

"Why would I?" I scoffed. He eyed the hat on my head and gave me a smug grin.

"College girl." He smiled and walked towards me again. "Wanna show me what you've learned?" He winked.

"Don't come any closer." I warned as I raised the gun higher and rested my finger on the trigger.

"Ay you don't gotta be like that." He shook his head. "I just wanna talk to you. We've got a camp about a mile from here, seein' how you're on your own you prob'ly should join us 'fore more of those things come and make you dinner."

"Who's we?" I raised my eyebrows.

"Me, my brother, and some other people we met 'long the way. I'm try'n to help you out Blondie, and you ain't lettin' me." His words somehow comforted me. Maybe it was how he used the pet name I had earned earlier that day. Maybe somehow, in a weird way, he reminded me of my Dad. Or maybe I was just craving the feeling of having a father-figure around.

"What's your name?" I asked. I lowered the gun slightly, forcing my eyes to meet his.

"Merle." He smiled. There was a moment of silence. We both knew I was contemplating going with him. For whatever reason I felt like I could trust him. "Do I get to know your name, or are you gonna put a bullet in my 'ed?"

"Sam." I nodded.


End file.
